Apologies

I need to apologize…

I’ve been a church leader for many years, but I have often failed in a key area. When I’ve interacted with volunteers on the teams I led, I sometimes made it seem that they were doing me a personal favor by serving. And sometimes they were, which is what made it even worse.

Let me explain… God has created within each of us abilities, passion, perspectives, etc… which are there to be developed and utilized for the benefit of the church and of the others around us. The church is not a building – it is ALL of us worshiping and serving together. It’s NOT people helping out the paid professionals because they’re their friends – or because they feel guilty…

More than that, serving benefits the person who is doing the serving. Without the opportunity to release the giftings inside of them, a person will feel incomplete. God created us to need each other, and serving fills places inside of us that will otherwise be empty.

I’ll close out with some truth from a wise man that we lost not that long ago:

“Instead of asking for help…we offer opportunities for people to contribute to the lives of others. The focus isn’t on the ministry role; it’s on the person who’s interested in finding a ministry. The emphasis isn’t on the service that needs to be performed; it’s on the people whose lives are affected by the servant.” – Tony Morgan